The present invention relates to a device for culturing microorganisms, and more particularly, to a culture medium in the form of a sheet for culturing adhesive bacteria and dropping bacteria, and a method of preparing the culture medium device.
A known sheet-form culture medium generally comprises laminated upper and lower sheet members. The upper sheet is peeled off at a time just before the usage thereof to permit aseptic water such as distilled water to be dropped onto the upper surface of the lower sheet to wet the same. A material or substance is thereafter inoculated to the central portion of the upper surface of the lower sheet by means of a pipette and the upper sheet is then covered over the lower sheet. A spreader made of a plastic material is placed on the upper surface of the upper sheet member at a portion corresponding to the location of the inoculated material on the lower sheet. A light pressure is then applied to the spreader to uniformly spread the inoculated material over substantially the entire upper surface of the lower sheet, whereby the material may be cultured.
In the preparation of the sheet-form culture medium in accordance with a conventional method described above, it is necessary to peel off the upper sheet and drop the aseptic water on the upper surface of the lower sheet before the usage of the culture medium; that is, the aseptic water must be transferred to a portion at which the aseptic water is actually used. In addition, contamination of the environment of the upper surface of the sheet, when the aseptic water is dropped on the upper surface of the lower sheet, has to be considered, since the sterilization of instruments or the like is required for every such application. These inconveniences require users to pay close attention to the treatment and operation of the culture medium preparation, therefore making it troublesome and time consuming.